Subject: Re: Trade sword for History of Middle-Earth set.by Stu on 2009/1/21 14:16:56

Eric the Red wrote:

"About the cheapest I've been able to round up a bunch of them from various sources is $180.00, mixed and matched new and used. The value of the Sword of Strider and its scabbard far exeeds that."

Unfortunately, because the official UC LOTR swords are essentially mass-produced stainless-steel SLOs (Sword-Like Objects), you will probably find that their resale value is actually very low. That's not to say they don't look nice, but sword collectors tend to look down on them a bit because of their ahistorical construction and materials (and the LOTR movie memorobila fad has long-since passed).

I would get a set of 1st Edition US HoME hardbacks and just pick them up piecemeal as they turn up and as you can afford it. I built up a set of first impressions with dust jackets in fine condition for about $300 - it just took a couple of years to do so. UK 1st/1sts are pretty expensive, and it isn't really possible to build up a set of later impressions cheaply because the final two books only have a single impression and are always fairly costly to acquire.

Patience pays dividends with book collecting, as the price you pay can really vary depending on who happens to be looking for the same book at the same time. With HoME (both US ans UK 1sts) there is also a random element in the final sale price that defies all logic and explanation.